Brazil Masters 2011 - the semi-finals

22:06:00
Ramona Dragomir
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The Scotsman Dott gets a place in the final

The first final of Brazil Masters
tournament will feature the names of Graeme Dott and Shaun Murphy. The Scotsman
managed to beat Peter Ebdon by 5-2 in what was a very tiring match, while Shaun
Murphy put an end to Stephen Hendry’s Brazilian dream by 5-1.The first semi-final of the
day, although it wasn't such a high quality cue battle, was surely a hard one. Scotland’s
Graeme Dott took on the strategist Peter Ebdon in order to book a place in
tonight's final.Although Dott managed to
take the first two frames under his belt, it wasn't done in the best possible
way this allowing frustration to kick in. Ebdon, on the other hand was just starting
his assault. Not a great one either, as both of his half century breaks (52 and
50) were obtained with difficulty as well as the frames in question. Still, the
interval found the boys all square at 2-2.

A nervy attitude and Ebbo is out

The fifth frame of the
match was clinched by Dott who seemed just a bit more invigorated, this putting
him back in the lead at 3-2. And from this moment on everything just fall apart
for his opponent. Visibly annoyed and frustrated with his game, Ebdon lost the next
two frames, this meaning he also lost the match by 5-2.And so the first name
through to the final is: Graeme Dott.The evening brought the second
semi-final, a way finer and exciting one; Shaun Murphy took on the seven-time
champion of the world, Stephen Hendry.

Shaun Murphy, looking foward to the final

It all started well for the
seven-time world champion as he hit a break of 84 to take the opener. Still,
Murphy didn't delay his response under the form of a 111 and so the scoreline
ended up on 1-1.Although Hendry tried his
best to put his nose in front before the interval, a couple of unexpected
misses threw his plan away, so with runs of 48 and 59, Shauny was 3-1 up.After the 15 minutes break
things started to slow down a bit, but the match was still played at a high
standard. The Scotsman had two important chances to pull one frame back, two
chances that he totally missed, first by cutting his break at just 31 points
due to a missed pink and second by losing position at just 13. Murphy however
was there to take advantage of his opponent’s mistakes and so he won the fifth
frame as well as the very next one for a final result of 5-1.

End of run for the Master Hendry

And so the line-up for the
final is complete: we shall witness a part Scottish, part English final with
the likes of Graeme Dott and Shaun Murphy. Best of luck to both lads and may
the best man win!The final will start from
23:30 (UK
time) and you can follow the lads’ evolution on www.sportlemon.tv